{"id":5583,"date":"2017-06-01T14:20:15","date_gmt":"2017-06-01T12:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insight-egypt.com\/?p=5583"},"modified":"2019-07-28T14:22:12","modified_gmt":"2019-07-28T12:22:12","slug":"wessam-mahmoud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insight-egypt.com\/?p=5583","title":{"rendered":"Wessam Mahmoud"},"content":{"rendered":"

Simple and to the point<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Chef Wesam is a Television and Radio presenter of food and cooking shows. He quit practicing medicine to become a professional chef and currently serves on the board of the Egyptian Chefs Association. He can be found on Instagram and twitter <\/em>@chefwesammasoud.<\/em><\/p>\n

Favourite Iftar and Sohour Destinations\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For Iftar: my mom\u2019s house and Sequoia. For Sohour: Yokal, Zooba and Al 3oda restaurant in Nasr City.<\/p>\n

Favourite Iftar and Sohour dishes\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For Iftar: Roast Chicken, Macarona Bechamel and Rokak. For Sohour: Omelets, Ein Katkoot, Shakshooka<\/p>\n

Favourite Ramadanic drink <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Qamar el deen 100%!!<\/p>\n

Your most unforgettable memory during the Holy month<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Walking with my late father through downtown Cairo when I was 8 years old. He showed me where he used to go when he was a young man living in Cairo and it\u2019s those days I miss the most.<\/p>\n

Biggest kitchen failure<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I burnt my entire right hand with flaming hot oil about 15 years ago. The best lesson I ever learned about respecting fire and the potential pain if I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Favourite Ramadanic dessert<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mehallabia Qamar el deen. I can\u2019t get enough of it!<\/p>\n

Do you cook in Ramadan?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I have to: it\u2019s my job and the busiest time of the year!<\/p>\n

Tip for surviving fasting<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t eat too much at Iftar, drink plenty of water and avoid too many carbs in general.<\/p>\n

Favourite recipe\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I love cooking scrambled eggs. Simple and to the point, with plenty of butter and fresh clotted cream.<\/p>\n

Secret ingredient<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

These days I\u2019ve been using Miso and Katsuobishi in a lot of my sauces and marinades.\u00a0 Both are staples of Japanese Cuisine. There are many types of Miso, but it is most commonly made of fermented soybeans. Miso gives a lovely savory (called Umami) taste to food. Katsuobushi is dried smoked and petrified bonito fish that lends an amazing depth and smokiness to soups, dressings \u2013 you name it!<\/p>\n

Sticky Toffee Date Cake<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Serves 6<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ingredients <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For the Date Batter<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

225g Whole Medjool dates<\/p>\n

175g Boiling water<\/p>\n

1 tsp Vanilla extract<\/p>\n

175g Self-raising flour, plus extra for greasing<\/p>\n

1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda<\/p>\n

2 Eggs<\/p>\n

85g Butter, softened, plus extra for greasing<\/p>\n

140g Brown sugar<\/p>\n

2 tbsp Molasses<\/p>\n

100ml Milk<\/p>\n

For the toffee sauce<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

150g White sugar<\/p>\n

50g Butter, cut into pieces<\/p>\n

225ml Heavy cream<\/p>\n

1 tbsp Molasses<\/p>\n

Method<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To Make the Batter:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Remove pits from dates and chop into small pieces. Put chopped dates in a bowl, and cover with boiling water. Leave to sit for about 30 mins until cool. Blend in food processor and add vanilla.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, mix flour and baking soda.<\/p>\n

Beat butter and sugar together until creamy, and add eggs one at a time, beating between additions to fully incorporate together. Beat in the molasses.<\/p>\n

Start adding the flour and baking soda mixture one large spoon at a time, each time folding it into the mixture. Add a little milk. Keep alternating additions of flour and milk until all of it is used up.<\/p>\n

Add the date mixture and stir to combine well.<\/p>\n

Butter and flour seven jumbo cupcake cups (each about 200gm) and sit them on a baking sheet. Heat oven to 180C. Spoon batter evenly between the cup and bake for 20-25 mins, until risen and firm.<\/p>\n

Remove from the oven and allow to cool while you make the toffee sauce.<\/p>\n

To Make the Toffee Sauce:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Put the sugar and butter in a medium saucepan with half the cream. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring all the time, until the sugar has completely dissolved.<\/p>\n

Stir in the molasses then turn up the heat slightly and let the mixture bubble away for 2-3 mins until it is a rich toffee colour, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn\u2019t burn. Take saucepan off the heat and beat in the rest of the cream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chef Wesam is a Television and Radio presenter of food and cooking shows. He quit practicing medicine to become a professional chef and currently serves on the board of the Egyptian Chefs Association. He can be found on Instagram and twitter @chefwesammasoud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5584,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":0,"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insight-egypt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5583"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insight-egypt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insight-egypt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insight-egypt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insight-egypt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insight-egypt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5585,"href":"https:\/\/insight-egypt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5583\/revisions\/5585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insight-egypt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insight-egypt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insight-egypt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insight-egypt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}